Dr. Harry Blake, pastor of Mount Canaan Baptist Church in Shreveport, Lousiana, president emeritus of the Louisiana Baptist State Convention, vice president of the Southwest Region of the National Baptist Convention, USA Inc., and a Civil Rights legend, will speak at Jarvis Christian College at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 11, in the Smith-Howard Chapel.

In 1960, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Blake, then 25, became a field representative for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization dedicated to ending segregation.

He joined the organization after hearing SCLC leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who gave a speech at Bishop College in Marshall, where he was a student. Blake was the only person in Louisiana hired by Dr. Martin Luther King to work on the Civil Rights Movement.

In the years to follow, Blake worked closely with Dr. King in the movement toward racial independence and social justice. He was paid to travel through Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas to help organize and encourage involvement in efforts to promote equality. He faced constant harassment and was frequently jailed for his successful grassroots efforts to register black voters in North Louisiana.